


Running out of time

by leimyda



Category: GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: Agent Jackson Wang, Assistant Mark Tuan, Disease specialist Im Jaebeom, Federal Bureau of Investigation, M/M, Reporter Park Jinyoung, virus outbreak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23143201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leimyda/pseuds/leimyda
Summary: When Doctor Im Jaebeom meets patient zero in the research-based biopharmaceutical company's quarantine and finds out that it's his ex-boyfriend, reporter Park Jinyoung, he is obliged to stay in contact with him and find out how is he the bearer of a deadly virus that starts spreading like wild-fire. The circumstances are mysterious, as Jinyoung and a few other people claim to be kidnapped and not remember 48 hours of their life as they slowly find their way back into society, infected by this new disease. The investigation must start before they run out of time and the few infected cases turn into a pandemic or an epidemic and through the events, Jaebeom will learn that Jinyoung might have been right to break-up with him to keep him safe.
Relationships: Im Jaebum | JB/Park Jinyoung
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	1. Patient zero

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with a small prompt a few months ago and this [picture](https://twitter.com/_xx__x__xx/status/1238780872309878784) made it into a pilot for my Disease research au as of today. This is just the beginning, I'm just planning out the story but I was bored so here is the first part. Please let me know If you would like to know how the story unfolds :)  
> (More tags will be added as the chapters get released.)

Jaebeom looks into his microscope at the Disease Research Facility with a thumping heart, watching as the virus eats up the cells of the human blood spread between the glass. The room is buzzing with all the medical equipment around him as the violent scene in front of him plays off, killing everything healthy in mere seconds. His eyes show concern when he finally straightens up. Stepping away from the table and pulling down the mask to speak freely, he turns to his assistant, Mark.

„Tell me again, what do we know so far?”

The older man scans through his notes taken in a hurry and summarizes what they’ve learned so far. „The virus attacks the cells in the human body, mainly focusing on the throat and lungs, causing fever. The incubation period is around five days on average. The first patient got it mysteriously. He doesn’t remember 48 hours of his life, when he woke up in a back alley in downtown, he walked straight into the nearest police station claiming somebody kidnapped him but doesn’t remember a thing. They sent him over to the hospital when he started developing fever and dizziness. He was quarantined shortly after the first few tests and they called us to confirm the case.”

„Have they tested the station and the nurses as well?”

„Yes, 30% tested positive in the next hour or so, the rest is secluded in the west wing of the hospital they were admitted to.”

"Where is patient zero at the moment and what is his status?”

„His conditions have been stabilized and he was safely transferred to this building for further testing. We need to learn more about this as fast as we can. The infection spreads fast, 400 people were admitted with the same symptoms over the last 24 hours.”

„That means he wasn’t the only person who could have started to spread this?”

„No, 3 more cases that the investigation found also claimed that they do not remember what happened to them between the sixth and the eighth of February.”

„Damn, that’s some fucked up shit. Do you think it’s possible this was intentionally released?”

„That is why we need to work fast. To find out if the virus was artificially fabricated and if so, who could have done it. Would you like to meet patient zero?”

„Of course. Let’s go.”

Walking through the crispy clean white hallway, Jaebeom fell into his own thoughts. How is it possible that there is more than one patient zero? Why would people release such a disease? Who are they to have such equipment even to do so? When he looked up they were already standing in front of the automatic door, it’s whooshing sound bringing him back to the present. Walking in with hands in his white coat’s pocket, Jaebeom froze mid-move as he looked past the hermetically sealed transparent enclosure.

The man behind it was sitting with his back leaning against the wall, one leg pulled up to his stomach. The book in his hand was a heavy copy of ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’ by David Wallace-Wells. A tired smile pulled the chunky but colorless lips apart, wrinkles forming around the corner of his eyes. He absent-mindedly ran his fingers through his hair, though he looked too pale and his eyes were red from the fever to look attractive. Even so, Jaebeom couldn’t stop staring at him.

„Nice to see you, Im Jaebeom.” Stated somewhat cheerfully the sick person, standing up to face his visitor.

„Do you two know each other?” Mark asked suspiciously, putting his hand on Jaebeom’s broad shoulder to gain his attention.

„It’s a long story” murmured Jaebeom while ministering the cracks on the floor in front of him.

„Wait, Jinyoung? I know a Jinyoung you told me about last year… Wasn’t he the guy who...”

„Who broke my heart? Yes, it’s him.”


	2. The first talk after a long time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaebeom has a small conversation with Jinyoung

The silence grew tangible as Mark went around to check on the monitors hooked up to Jinyoung’s body. When he was done, he cleared his throat and addressed his co-worker with a professional tone.

“All readings are within the normal range.” After a beat of silence, he looked Jaebeom in the eye and said with a tiny tilt of his head: ” I’m gonna leave you two alone unless you need anything else.”

“Don’t worry, I know you are his best friend. No need for the formalities.” Jinyoung saw right through Mark’s attempt of letting him choose if he wants to stay alone with this guy or not.

“It’s okay, Mark. You can leave for now.” The man nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the two awkwardly quiet individuals alone.

Jaebeom didn’t know how to start the conversation. Usually, he gathers information on the previous whereabouts of the patient, who he got in contact with, maps his every move and finds out how he got in contact with the virus but in this case what was there to ask? Jinyoung didn’t remember anything, or so he claimed.

“So. You still work here, Beoma?”

“Please don’t call me like that. Nobody calls me like that anymore.”

“I’m sorry.” It’s just an old habit I didn’t know I still have, he thought to himself. “It’s good to know that you are working on my case… well and the whole case I mean. I’m sure you will figure out a solution soon enough.”

“How did you get into this mess, Jinyoung?”

“I’m not really sure. The last thing I know is I was on my way to meet with one of my anonymous informants who had intel on the story I am working on and the next thing I know is I wake up two days later in god damn Itaewon.”

“Yeah, you are lucky you went to the police straight away and got diagnosed pretty early. This is how the consequences are not that severe and we are able to speak right now.” Jaebeom felt clumsy, standing there, nothing to do with his hands so he pulled a rolling chair closer and plopped down. Jinyoung sat back down on the bed as well.

The difference between their posture couldn’t have been more evident. Jaebeom with his bent upper body, arms resting on his thighs versus Jinyoung’s straight spine, with head held high. Jaebeom used to adore how Jinyoung always paid attention to how he was perceived by others, now he believed it was more of a show than something genuine. He grimaced and reached for his ring finger, massaging it between his thumb and index finger as if his brain suddenly remembered something was missing from there. Jinyoung dropped his hand that was hovering above his chest just as guiltily as they caught each other’s movement.

“So, that story you’re working on. Is it dangerous?”

“You know that’s the only kind I’m interested in.” Here we go, cocky Jinyoung has surfaced. “I can’t tell you much about, I’m sorry.”

“Even if it could save your life?” Jaebeom couldn’t stop himself from getting into the same kind of arguments they used to have. “Don’t even answer that. I know the answer already.”

“I heard that there are others like me. Do you know their names maybe?”

“No, but I can find it out for you. We should find a connection, maybe you’ll even recognize one of them.”

“That would be a good start. When can I leave this place?”

“Are you that eager to get rid of me?” Snapped Jaebeom before he could think things through.

“No” raised one of his eyebrows Jinyoung, ”I was actually thinking I’d go with you to see the other people involved with this virus.”

Jaebeom curses himself for letting his temper rise so quickly. He must control his emotions better in front of Jinyoung. He stood up and walked to the door.

“I will get back to you when I know more.” Was the automatic door always this slow or was he the one who wanted to escape a fast as possible?

“I’ll be waiting, Jaebeom.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn more about the virus and Jaebeom receives a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I slowly try to wrap my head around what is going to happen with this story and as nothing is written in stone yet, I am trying to establish backgrounds and build the characterization. We'll see where this takes us :D

The next few weeks Jinyoung spent under quarantine were boring as hell. His usually busy mind struggled with the low amount of stimulation it had to live off of. Books and a Nintendo Switch that he borrowed from Mark were his only company between visits of the facility staff. He made friends with the nurses and even the cleaning workers so at least he could look forward to some human interactions and news of course. He found it really hard to be this cut off from the outside, especially as a reported whose job is to be well informed at all times. After a few days, newspapers started to arrive twice a week so he had quite a big stash of collection organized by topics from the most recent to the oldest ones.

His recovery was going well, they managed to keep all his symptoms under control with medication, and though he isn’t completely cured and could still infect others, as far as he is concerned, he was days away from full recovery. The rest of the country hasn’t looked so good though. Compared to the initially reported cases, it turned out that the reproduction number of the virus was much higher than predicted, between 2 - 2.3 which is a higher rate than normal flu would be.

When the virus was presented to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses for naming, based on its genetic structure to facilitate the development of diagnostic tests, vaccines and medicines, it was registered as ‘severe acute respiratory syndrome polypusvirus’ because the characteristic appearance of virions by electron microscopy, which have a series of horn-like surface projections creating an image reminiscent of the tentacles of an octopus. From this, the World Health Organization decided to name the disease PolyVID2-20 (short for polypus virus disease 2020).

When the first wave of useful protection tips and information on symptoms and screening were sent out to the government, people didn’t start to panic. The public was only hit a few days later when the local news broadcasted from the hospitals that were assigned to deal with the first wave of incoming patients, among them was the smaller hospital that Jinyoung walked.

His memory was still not coming back. He had a few episodes when a smell or a sound triggered his feeling like a deja-vu and he was uneasy in those moments, but he couldn’t associate images with them. During the last conversation between him and Jaebeom, Jinyoung couldn’t give much away on what he was working on but he wasn’t completely honest when he said he has zero clues why this would happen to him. His story was revolving around a group of people that seemed to be dangerously involved in more than one successful murderous attempts against the government and though he only had blurry photos of secret meetings and mysterious late-night phonecalls recorded over a voice changer device, he was hoping to get to the bottom of it. If they were the same people who are responsible for this outbreak than he was sure this is a bigger fish than he’d ever expected and wanted to be in the deep end of it even more.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town Jaebeom was preparing to go to bed. He made his favorite tea and was sipping on the steamy drink while some random last year’s big hit movie was running on tv. His private phone rang and he scratched his head, his loose grey pajama top rolling back on his wrist at the motion.

“Hi, who is this?”

“Uhm, hello. Is this Im Jaebeom? I’m Park Sooyoung, Jinyoung’s sister.”

“Oh, h-hi. Yes, it’s me. What can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry to call you this late, it took me some courage to ring you up and I was hoping that you still use the same number as before.”

“It’s okay.” He didn’t know what else to say so he stayed silent, waiting.

“Ah, this is so weird. We used to hang out the three of us, do you remember? I never thought I’d call you in a situation like this.”

“Is everything okay?” Jaebeom smiled at the memories of bbq feasts and bingsu desserts after a movie.

“Yeah, considering the circumstances we are doing okay. Nobody got infected so far and I know Jinyoung is in good hands. I hope he is not causing too much trouble for you.”

“Actually, we don’t see each other as often. I’m working on another level.”

“Oh, yes I see. Big important Doctor Im.” Laughed teasingly Sooyoung.

“You know that’s not how I meant it!” Protested Jaebeom while folding his legs under himself.

“Sure, sure. Listen, I won’t bother you. I just wanted to thank you for doing a great job, we heard that Jinyoung’s recovery is going well. Also please promise me you’ll have plenty of rest and eat enough to stay strong against this battle.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Sooyoung. It’s practically my job to keep him alive, even if I wanted to choke him in a spoonful of water when I saw him again.”

He heard a sigh from the other side and Jinyoung’s sister’s voice turned suddenly mellow. “We talked about this before. He has done bad things to you, I am not protecting him, but I know he still loves you. He just needs time to sort himself out.”

“Yeah, sure.” Jaebeom was way too tired and sorrowful to talk about this topic after such an unexpected phone call.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going to leave you be. Sleep lots. It was nice to hear your voice again.”

“It was nice hearing from you too. Be cautious and always wear masks when you are in public. Good night.”

“Thank you. Bye.”

With Jinyoung back in his life and the things happening countrywide, he didn’t get much sleep after all. Tossing and turning, his brain was either reciting his to-do list for the upcoming days or was replaying the last time, he and Jinyoung fought.

The next morning he walked into Jinyoung’s room with a hot cup of americano.

“I spoke to your sister last night. She says hugs and kisses.”

“I didn’t know you two still speak.”

“She proper checked up on me, like old times, can you believe it?”

“Well, she always treated you like a younger brother too.”

“That she did.” There were a few moments while both of them must have thought about good old days then Jinyoung spoke. “Will you give me the second cup or are those both for you?”

“Oh yeah, here.” He passed the ceramics through the safety latch and closed it before the other side was opened by Jinyoung. He hummed as he took a sip.

“If you’ve woken up, let’s sit down and talk about your involvement with the virus. Shall we?”

_ ‘Oh, shit. Here we go _ ’ thought Jinyoung.


End file.
